Homecoming 1997 is soon approaching, and besides the football game, there are many activities planned.

This year’s theme is “Ignite Magic Through Cyclone Spirit.”

One activity that has sparked the interest of more than 1,300 Iowa State students is the Habitat for Humanity community-service project.

Tawyna Hesse, Homecoming community-service coordinator, said the five-week project received volunteers from 18 greek houses, seven student organizations and nine residence-hall floors.

Volunteers are in their second week of constructing a home for a family in Kelley. Every Saturday, volunteers show up bright and early at 8 a.m. to restore the Mulvaney family’s house.

Work started on the house Sept. 21. Volunteers will continue to work on the house and other houses every Saturday and Sunday until Oct. 19.

Hesse said the Mulvaney family has been out to the construction site almost every weekend to see the progress on their house.

“They were really excited and amazed by the number of volunteers,” Hesse said.

Almost 80 volunteers showed up the first weekend for the project, Hesse said. The following weekends they have had an average of 60 volunteers.

Andrea Horst, Homecoming co-chairwoman, said greek members and residence hall residents make up 50 percent of the volunteers. “It’s really a diverse group out there,” she said.

In past years, the Homecoming community-service committee did many small projects within the Ames community, but this year, Hesse said, they wanted to do something big.

Horst said she got the idea for a large community-service project at a conference last semester.

“In Missouri, during their Homecoming, they did three entire houses, and we decided it could be done here,” Horst said.

Hesse said they contacted the Story County Habitat for Humanity organization to ask them if they needed any help. The Mulvaney family’s house was the first house ready for them to work on this fall.

“Hopefully, this week or next week we will be finishing up and will start a new house,” Hesse said. “People will still be working on the inside, but the family hopes to move in by Dec. 1.”

Horst said the family is also working on their new house. She said they must work a certain number of hours as part of their agreement with Habitat for Humanity.

Horst said the house was donated by an ISU professor.

Hesse said because of the community-service project and the abundance of volunteers, they have advanced the family’s move-in date by one year.

In addition to the Habitat for Humanity community-service project, Hesse said the committee is also doing a lot of small community-service projects throughout the Ames community.

“The last three weekends, because of the large number of volunteers, we’ve been doing projects like raking leaves and painting the inside of daycare centers,” Hesse said.